ADVENTURER0:

Your heart beats three times faster than normal. Your blood pressure rises. Your mouth goes dry. Your brain's hypothalamus triggers the production of massive amounts of adrenalin, noradrenalin and cortisol. The pupils of your eyes dilate.

Your heart beats three times faster than normal. Your blood pressure rises. Your mouth goes dry. Your brain's hypothalamus triggers the production of massive amounts of adrenalin, noradrenalin and cortisol. The pupils of your eyes dilate.
ADVENTURER1:

Your hands shake. What's happening? You're experiencing a physical reaction as old as the human race itself: the Fight or Flight Response. The Fight or Flight Response is what happens to our body and mind when we're in danger. Our brain releases chemicals that gives our body extra strength and speed, and this helps us get ready for the snap decision we're about to make: to stay and fight or to run away.

Your hands shake. What's happening? You're experiencing a physical reaction as old as the human race itself: the Fight or Flight Response. The Fight or Flight Response is what happens to our body and mind when we're in danger. Our brain releases chemicals that gives our body extra strength and speed, and this helps us get ready for the snap decision we're about to make: to stay and fight or to run away.
ADVENTURER2:

During the last ice age, which was around 20000 years ago, when huge pre historic animals roamed the planet and the human brain was around the same size as a chimpanzee's .... The flight or fight response came in useful. In fact, it probably helped save the human race. And incredibly, thousands of years later, when you or I are in dangerous situations, we have the exact same biological response as our early ancestors. But the question I want to ask is why do human beings, whose instinct is to be safe, sometimes do such dangerous things?

During the last ice age, which was around 20000 years ago, when huge pre historic animals roamed the planet and the human brain was around the same size as a chimpanzee's ... The flight or fight response came in useful. In fact, it probably helped save the human race. And incredibly, thousands of years later, when you or I are in dangerous situations, we have the exact same biological response as our early ancestors. But the question I want to ask is why do human beings, whose instinct is to be safe, sometimes do such dangerous things?
ADVENTURER3:

In the early twentieth century, psychoanalysts such as Sigmund Freud believed people who took risks or did extreme activities were crazy. Freud believed it just wasn't natural to enjoy being in danger, so people who did dangerous things must have a death wish or some other kind of serious mental problem. However, modern psychologists tend to disagree with Freud. In fact, if you think about it, risk-taking is a just as natural a part of life as the 'Fight or Flight'' response. On a more mundane level, we face many different kinds of risks everyday: should we change our job or invest all of our money in starting our own business?

In the early twentieth century, psychoanalysts such as Sigmund Freud believed people who took risks or did extreme activities were crazy. Freud believed it just wasn't natural to enjoy being in danger, so people who did dangerous things must have a death wish or some other kind of serious mental problem. However, modern psychologists tend to disagree with Freud. In fact, if you think about it, risk-taking is a just as natural a part of life as the 'Fight or Flight' response. On a more mundane level, we face many different kinds of risks everyday: should we change our job or invest all of our money in starting our own business?
ADVENTURER4:

Should we go on a date? Should we get married and buy that house? Do we take a chance, or not? Do we fight, or do we run away? Same principle, same instinct.

Should we go on a date? Should we get married and buy that house? Do we take a chance, or not? Do we fight, or do we run away? Same principle, same instinct.
ADVENTURER5:

Now, imagine it's 20000 years ago. You're hungry. To eat meat, you're gonna have to catch and kill an animal; and some of these animals are dangerous. Perhaps it's only by taking the risk of hunting and killing an animal that you'll get to eat meat and manage to survive. And perhaps that's why, as humans, we need both safety, and danger, in our lives.

Now, imagine it's 20000 years ago. You're hungry. To eat meat, you're gonna have to catch and kill an animal; and some of these animals are dangerous. Perhaps it's only by taking the risk of hunting and killing an animal that you'll get to eat meat and manage to survive. And perhaps that's why, as humans, we need both safety, and danger, in our lives.